Quintet Da Pacem
"The
most interesting of these [works by Ravel, Dohnanyi, Damase] was Katheriine
Hoover's Da Pacem Piano Quintet...an appealingly intricate fantasy."
New York Times,
1989
"...a
violent, brooding work...a spiritual exploration of the need for reconciliation
in a broken world. It is also an inventive exploration of the motivic and
harmonic possibilities of the old tune...When the canon iis finally stated in
full by the quartet, with soft comments from the piano, it is satisfying both
emotionally and musically. The fragments come together making both levels
whole."
The Newark Star
Ledger 1989
"Its
balance and serene chordal planes and emotionally charged passage work was fresh
and vigorous."
The Charleston
Gazette 1991
"The program’s most
compelling work was Ms. Hoover’s Quintet Da Pacem, a lyrical, flexibly harmonized
piece that made a strong impression (at) its premiere in 1989."
Allen Kozinn
New York Times, 1993
"sumptuous and haunting"
Tim Page
New York Newsday 1993
"Hoover's
Quintet (Da Pacem) is clearly a major contribution to the repertory by a
contemporary composer."
Nixon
Bicknell
The Montclair Times 1989
"...a
stunning meditation on the Vietnam War based on a canon by Demantius. Brooding
music, building up to a shattering climax and then returning to peace, it
lingers in the memory and demands to be heard again."
Leslie Gerber
Classical Pulse 1996
Night Skies
"Inspired
by the painting "Landscape with Stars" by Henri Edmond Cross, Hoover's
piece opens with a vibrant smattering of distinctive sounds against a deep, slow
and moody background. An array of intriguing percussion sounds and shining brass
blends into the composition's mystery-laden second section, heralded by the
evocative sounds of a Japanese flute. Hoover also includes a lovely flute
solo... The final part grows tumultuous, with whirling winds and rolling
thunder. It's significant that Hoover chose not to end her piece in the midst of
her magnificent storm. Instead she brings it back around to end calmly and
beautifully with the ethereal Japanese flute. Hoover's music mixes elements of
old and new, in a masterful blending of a variety of sounds into a cohesive
whole."
The
Harrisburg Patriot-News
String Quartet
Colorado String Quartet impressive in
series opener
"The
UW International Chamber Music Series kicked off its new season this week with
an extraordinary group of musicians. The Colorado String Quartet, while not as
famous as some quartets, are the musical equals of any string quartet in the
world. Having established its classical credentials, the quartet was ready to
dive into something new, a string quartet written only two years ago by American
composer Katherine Hoover. In reading the program notes about Hoover's use of
Native American themes, one may take to eye-rolling. After all, who isn't
influenced by such things these days? But hearing the music is another matter;
there is no cliché involved in it whatsoever. It is an admirable, very visual
piece filled with drama and originality. Most memorable were the "Hopi
Lullaby" in the Adagio, a gorgeously peaceful section, and its manic
opposite, the ensemble sextuplet runs, which showed off the precise coordination
and just sheer dazzle this group is capable of. "
John
Sutherland
Special to The Seattle Times
October 05, 2000
Two Sketches
"Hoover's
Two Sketches scored with immediate accessibility and an impressive combination
of depth, maturity, and power...its title notwithstanding the pieces emerged
as substantial and engrossing, and strongly contrasted compositions. The
atmospheric nature depiction in "Winter Sands" was painted in highly
specific and deeply saturated orchestral colors. "Turnabout", a
palindromic exercise, is so deftly scored that its intellectual challenge is
softened by its sensuality."
Timothy
Pfaff
San Francisco Examiner
"Katherine
Hoover is far too skilled an orchestrater to be creating mere sketches; I've
heard major prizewinners who have lacked her expressive flair. "
Paul
Hertelendy
San Jose Mercury News
Lyric Trio
"Katherine Hoover is a leading contemporary composer by anyone's
definition, and her Lyric Trio is a particularly attractive example of her
work. This well-crafted trio, apparently inspired by the neo-classical
tradition, is as remarkable for its accessibility as for its gracious solo
writing."
Michael Redmond
The Star Ledger (Newark)
Kokopeli
"...a
heart-stoppingly beautiful piece: Kokopeli by Katherine Hoover, four and a
half minutes of magic capturing Indian legend and the vast spaces of the
Southwest."
Leslie Gerber
Classical Pulse
Stitch-te Naku
"The
highlight of the program...Based on Native American myths, the piece traces
the spiritual journey of the world's creatures, who are given the gift of free
will by Old Spider Woman, who creates the world with her web...Throughout the
piece, Native American elements are woven in with unusual percussion, droning strings, and
pitches that slip and slide... Hoover has captured the indigenous spirit
without trivializing it. And she has created a work as silky and ethereal as a
spider web itself."
Diane Peterson
Rohnert Park Press Democrat
Review of Long Beach Concert 4/29/00
"The
main interest of the concert was a most ingratiating cello concerto by the
West Virginia born composer Katherine Hoover called "Stitch-te Naku"
- a spider-grandmother of Native American lore who weaves all kinds of things
into existence. Hoover introduces her soloist ingeniously, setting a wild
pastoral scene and having the cello quietly play weird microtonal glides as
part of the landscape until the full-blooded solo line bursts into view.
Woodwind birds chatter with the cello, rhino-like brasses wail, and an
insistent Indian dance dominates the last portion. The 181/2 minute piece
works as a unified fresco of creation-with reminders of Ravel's "Daphnis
and Chloe" now and then- and cellist Sharon Robinson handled it with real
flair and a warmly reverberant tone."
Richard S.
Ginnell
Los Angeles Times 5/3/00
Review of Women's Philharmonic 2/27/00
"...another
significant 'nature' piece animated the program: "Stitch-te Naku"
for cello and orchestra, a 1994 composition by Katherine Hoover. Meant to tell
the Native American tale of Spider-Grandmother who wove the world, with all
its features and creatures in her web, it brimmed with orchestrated bird calls
and chirps, animal voices, and American Indian-sounding themes...the melody
lines...were intensely descriptive, but wordless ballads."
Cheryl North
Oakland Tribune 2/29/00
Medieval Suite
"A fine new work...The
Medieval Suite realizes (its) inspiration in
the language of Katherine Hoover, a language not to be confused with that of Aaron
Copland, Walter Piston, or George Crumb, but equally as American as these. This is a
short, uncompromising, sympathetic contemporary work."
Mark Crawford
Reno Gazette-Journal
"The
highlight of the afternoon...Katherine Hoover's Medieval Suite is brilliant.
Each of the five movements is exquisitely crafted, leaving the listener
confident that a musical journey has taken place. Every note is placed with the
same care exercised by an expert diamond-cutter, giving the work a discernable
architecture which is very satisfying.
Alfred de Jaeger
The Intelligencer (Wheeling, WV)
"The
writing is extremely imaginative and full of exciting instrumental passages
displaying the composer's knowledge and skill...this is a major addition to
the flute and piano literature, and every movement has a character and
emotional impact that is rarely achieved in contemporary music."
Norman
Pickering
The Southampton Press
"The program
began with Katherine Hoover's "Medieval Suite," a five movement work
dating from 1983 that was originally written for flute and piano. Hoover is
herself a distinguished flutist, and so the idiomatic scoring for her chosen
instrument came as no surprise. The suite itself has a stylistic diversity
that is never merely clever; this is limpid, honest, attractive and appealing
music, full of graceful melodies and the subtle "touches" of a
natural composer."
Tim
Page
The Washington Post
Eleni: A Greek Tragedy
"Eleni:
A Greek Tragedy evokes clearly and powerfully the heroic story of a Greek
mother who was murdered by the Communists during the civil war for smuggling
her son out to join his father in America...It's a well-wrought, affecting
work."
William
Glackin
The Sacramento Bee
"A powerful and brooding piece...Hoover contrasted the deceptive
charm of folk music with her own contemporary harmonies. Her terse and often harsh
sonorities drove the terror and tragedy of the heroine deep into the heart."
Robert McClintock
Sacramento Union
"First standing ovation for a contemporary work in our
orchestra’s history."
Carolann Martin
Conductor, S.E. Kansas Symphony
Qwindtet
"Hoover
writes superbly for winds. Her piece, in five movements, is beautifully
constructed, and the plan the composer explained of using the same material.
and changing its nature in three of the movements works well...it seems to
have a deeper emotional resonance."
Leslie Gerber
Woodstock Times
Divertimento
"Deserves a welcome place not only in the flute repertoire, but also
in the history of American music."
Thomas Warner
American Music
"The
Divertimento for flute and string trio, by Katherine Hoover, gives the firm,
engaging impression of an interesting mind at work in a light-hearted way - a
bit like Ravel in that vein, only a few steps beyond him in time, harmonically
speaking. All of it was clear, easy to follow and worth following."
William Glackin
The Sacramento Bee
"Katherine
Hoover's Divertimento...is a work with tougher fiber, making the flute the
leader of the quartet. Its tangy harmonic base gives the work an agreeable
vigor."
Daniel Webster
The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Hoover's
Divertimento for flute quartet, a well-structured composition, is both tonal and
atonal. The work is both light, flowing, and pleasant; it has fine forward
movement and is accented by tone clusters and by the percussive knocks of the
bow-frog on the belly of the violin."
Nathaniel H.
Sperber
Musical America
"La
Divertimento est rebondissant et possede la verve francais d'Ibert et des
rythmes alla Bartok. Par son brio et son ecriture solide, il apporte a ce disque
un brin de fantaisie et de virtuosite."
Irene Brisson
Sonances
"El
Divertimento para flautas y cuerdas de Katherine Hoover, es la obra de una
compositora y una flautista talentosa, con una escritura instrumental fluida, de
gran coherencia sonora y combinaciones armonicas y timbricas atrayentes, cuyo
sesgo impresionista fue asumido con propiedad por los interpretes."
Hector Coda
La Nacion, Buenos Aires QWINDTET
Double Concerto
"After intermission the second highlight
was presented; the premiere of a new work by Katherine Hoover...The
composer...said she wanted the piece to present two fine violinists who value
each other's talents and friendship, playing with lyricism and a sense of
playfulness. This intention was delightfully fulfilled. Of particular beauty is
the second movement, the adagio - a sustained, singing duet for the violins with
a rather Schubertian accompaniment in the violas, the cellos, and the sonorous
pizzicato of the basses. The composition is a most interesting wedding of
atonality and more traditional sounds, and was very well received by the
audience.
Summer Night
SUMMER NIGHT is
an apt description of what Katherine Hoover evokes in her lyrical, bucolic work
that spotlights the horn and flute. It is engaging and thoroughly
accessible."
Audio
"This
is a really good American piece, and its sound is open and pleasing."
Thomas
Putnam
American Record Guide
Trio
"Ms.
Hoover's score repays careful attention; a dramatic three-movement scenario that
drawsupon the individual sonorities of the three instruments to create an
unsettled atmosphere of brooding disquiet and banked emotional fires."
Peter Davis,
The New York Times
"...the
Hoover Trio is memorable for its fascinating use of rhythm. It is a combination
of lyric, romantic, sweep and drive, biting irregular rhythms, and gentle washes
of sound. The three instruments are treated in solo, duo, and trio capacities,
in all combinations. Piano tone clusters, ponticello and pizzicato string
effects, inside-the-piano plucking, and string glissandi are all devices that
Hoover uses in the cause of communicating her strong ideas, rather than as
devices for effect."
Sylvia Glickman,
American Music
"It
is risky to attach the title 'masterpiece' to contemporary work, but for
Katherine Hoover's Trio I think no smaller word will do. No serious collection
of contemporary music should be without this record."
Joseph
McClellan
The Washington Post
Dances and Variations
"Hoover's
new Dances and Variations for flute and harp proved to be both tightly
reasoned and beautiful...The finale brimmed with warmth. Hoover built a nearly
seamless flow that fought against the variation form's tendency to lurch along
in fits of starting and stopping. Here each new variation seemed to blossom
out of the last idea in the old."
David
Williams
The Charleston Gazette
Suite for Two
Flutes
"The well-crafted Suite for Two Flutes,
by Hoover, was impressive. The whirling motive of the Presto movement demanded
attention."
T. P. Carrabre, Winnipeg Free Press
